Over the Edge

Ch.18-Her Defeat

~Emmalyn~

"She'll be easy. She's about as innocent as they come."

"Excellent."

I could hear their muffled voices through the door from where I was gagged and tied up. I shook with fear, chest heaving with each labored breath I futilely tried to even out. My mind hadn't quite caught up with the situation. I couldn't believe what was happening.

The door burst open, then. Mike and Nate walked through, looking smug and cruel. They were not the people I thought I had known.

Mike knelt behind me and yanked the gag away from my mouth. "Hey, babe," he smirked.

I spat in his face.

He chuckled humorlessly, wiping the spit from his cheek. "Aw, now, come on. Don't be like that."

"Why are you doing this?" I croaked, throat dry and raspy.

He laughed. "You were way too easy," he remarked. "Desperate and naïve."

I frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Nate!" he called. Nate reappeared with a video camera. My eyes widened.

"What are you doing with that?" I demanded.

"It'll be a big hit," Mike continued with his sick fantasy. "Now, are you going to comply, or am I going to have to force you?"

"Don't do this, Mike," I begged, feeling my heart breaking. It landed in shards at my feet. "Please."

He crawled toward me, every part predatory and monstrous. "It was always going to happen," he whispered, and then louder to Nate, "Roll film!"

Then next thing I knew his hands were ripping apart my shirt.

~*~

I shot up in bed, gasping. My hair was in sweaty tangles about my face. My chest heaved. I cast fleeting glances around my room. It was just starting to get dark. My nap had turned into quite a long snooze.

"You'll look beautiful on video."

I hitched forward, gripping the blankets tighter around me.

"All this hair . . ."

"No, no, no," I whispered, rocking back and forth. "Go away. You can't hurt me. Go away."

"I will find you, Emma. I swear I will."

I clamped my hands over my ears. "No!"

"Emma?" a different voice called, breaking through my thoughts. "You better hurry up or you'll be late for the dance!"

Dance? What dance?

"Somebody hold her down! I can't grab her legs!"

I felt sick all of a sudden as the wretched memories cascaded over me. I leapt from bed, stumbling over my feet in my hurry to get to the bathroom. I slammed the door behind me, barely making it in time to the toilet. I vomited, heaving long after I had finished. I reached up blindly for a towel and dragged it across my face, breathing hoarsely.

"We already got a thousand hits, man!"

"I know. Get the camera ready, Nate, we're rolling again."

"Gotcha."

"Don't worry, Emma," he smiled at my trembling, naked form in the corner, tainted with blood. "You'll be a huge sensation."